In the wake of this week’s unprecedented wave of U.S. flight cancellations, experts and passengers alike are weighing in on how flyers can better prepare for a disrupted itinerary.
While multiple explanations have been put forward to explain the chaos that stranded thousands of passengers in the last few days — the majority of which was led by Southwest Airlines and included weather, staffing, and technology issues — there should be one key takeaway, experts say: Flyers can no longer rely on their airline when something goes awry, and instead should have the savvy and, where possible, the financial resources — to take matters into their own hands.
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“The days are gone when you could just take off without a backup plan,” said Kathleen Bangs, a former commercial airline pilot and spokeswoman for FlightAware, a company that provides flight-tracking services.